The majority of women in the U.S. bottle-feed their children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, despite the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) recommendation that women exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months.
In the wake of the milk formula shortage, the country attempted to increase its supply of infant nutrition products by importing milk products. Yet, parents still find it a struggle to provide milk formula for their kids.
Observers note that a handful of manufacturers' monopoly on milk supply has caused bottlenecks, resulting in calls for more available milk alternatives for moms who cannot breastfeed.
ABC News cites features three startups that could be the breast milk alternatives in years to come. These milk alternatives are using bioengineering to create new baby formula products, and scientists are hopeful that it will be a better substitute for breastmilk.
Wilk
When Nurit Argov-Argaman, the Chief Technology Officer of the Israeli dairy milk alternative of startup company Wilk was raising her three young children, she also struggled to manage her time in providing breast milk for her kids. Infant formula was one of her best options for her kids. Knowing the limitations of formula milk, Argov-Argaman, who is a lactation scientist by training, vowed that she could "help bridge the gap" between formula and breastmilk by developing a product that would closely resemble breast milk.
As per Green Queen, the company, which was formerly named Biomilk, became the first cell-based milk manufacturer that went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
To develop milk, the company uses breast milk and mammary cells that have been removed during breast reduction surgeries and provided by a local hospital. Wilk now focuses its study on identifying ways to maximize milk yield from cultivated mammary cells.
Biomilq
This startup milk is U.S.-based and was born out of a mother's desire to create an alternative baby formula. Its founder, Leila Strickland, found that the products on the market were "not meeting what she wanted to feed her children."
According to the company's co-founder, Michelle Egger, formula milk has not changed much since the 1950s. Over the years, it has consolidated its supply chain, impacting families and parents.
The project began in 2013. Its prototype was confirmed in 2021, making it the first to make "cell-cultured human milk outside of the breast."
Helaina
Helaina attempts to recreate proteins found in breastmilk by "training" the yeast using the same DNA code that produces breast milk proteins. The proteins, as per its owner, Laura Katz, could have more immunity benefits found in breastmilk, which traditional baby formulas lack.
According to Tech Crunch, Katz, a food scientist who teaches at New York University, proudly says that Helaina is "the first company making functional human proteins for food."
As the baby formula shortage in the country worsens, alternative baby formulas have been cast into the spotlight. However, these alternative milk products will take several years before it will be a available in the commercial market as they must go through U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scrutiny before being approved for use.
Related Article: The Struggles of Breastfeeding in Public
